Today marks the final day when 18 holes will be accessible at 113-year-old Moore Park Golf Course.<\/p>\n
The six-year saga involving the Sydney CBD layout, the New South Wales Government and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore reaches its nadir tomorrow when the course officially closes eight holes ahead of a proposed redevelopment to become a 12-hole entity<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was the unlosable war that golf in this country somehow contrived to lose.<\/p>\n RELATED: Moore Park Golf Course to be cut to 12 holes from July<\/a><\/p>\n An interim 10-hole layout (comprising Moore Park\u2019s first to 10th holes) will be in play from July 1 and continually while the course is redeveloped into a 12-hole offering, which has an expected re-opening date of 2028. There will be no change to clubhouse or driving-range operations during the course redevelopment.<\/p>\n \u2018A complete lack of empathy\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe we\u2019ve got to this point. It\u2019s a sad day,\u201d said a despondent Jared Kendler in an impassioned Twitter\/X post last Saturday morning.<\/p>\n The tireless defender of Moore Park, and the club\u2019s vice-president, has been vocal in his disdain towards the redevelopment plans throughout the process. Kendler was among the field of 120 players who used last Saturday to tour the full golf course for the last time on a weekend.<\/p>\n A very sad day in Sydney for Moore Park Golf Club. Over 100yrs of history about to be lost to satisfy the ego of @ChrisMinnsMP<\/a> and the 30yr mission of @CloverMoore<\/a>. This has always been a decision looking for a plan & from Monday, fences will be erected cutting the course in half pic.twitter.com\/2xJhGqPcWJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jared Kendler (@jmkendler) June 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s using anything but the golf course this morning,\u201d Kendler noted of the surrounding area, which non-golf-playing politicians insist is needed for other pastimes and activities.<\/p>\n Few have been more strident in their support of Moore Park remaining as 18 holes than Kendler, who has a professional background in the banking industry and worked as a treasury bureaucrat in the Berejiklian NSW Liberal Government. But this is anything but a personal battle \u2013 it\u2019s one for Sydney\u2019s golfers.<\/p>\n Kendler laments even the thought of fences being erected, let alone the sight of them on the Moore Park course. He says the impact on the city\u2019s golf-playing community will be immediate.<\/p>\n Due to the time of year and winter\u2019s shorter daylight hours, there won\u2019t be capacity to allow golfers to simply \u201cgo around twice\u201d (which was one of Cr Moore\u2019s erroneous suggestions when quizzed about her proposal). Kendler estimates 60 golfers per day at most will be able to complete two laps, such is the overall demand for tee-times. Even looking long-term, rounds of 18\u00a0or just 9 holes will be limited compared to the 100,000 rounds played on\u00a0the\u00a0course in 2025.<\/p>\n Many golfers will be left with no option but to look elsewhere to play, and \u2018elsewheres\u2019 aren\u2019t readily available. The parts of Sydney closest to the city are not flush with publicly accessible golf options. But the politicians remain unconcerned.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most disappointing aspect of all this is the complete lack of empathy from the decision makers,\u201d Kendler said when reached by Australian Golf Digest yesterday afternoon. \u201cGolfers here now don\u2019t know what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n Also distressing for Kendler and all golfers who fought to retain Moore Park as 18 holes is the futility of it all.<\/p>\n \u201cEven their own business case said: keep it at 18 holes,\u201d Kendler says of the official business case that revealed a\u00a0benefit-cost ratio of 2.4 and a net present value of $272.6 million for the existing 18-hole layout.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single redevelopment option is worse for the people of NSW than doing nothing,\u201d Kendler wrote on LinkedIn last November. \u201cAs someone who has led major public-sector appraisals, I cannot overstate how extraordinary and how concerning that is.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve tried to make this a culture war \u2013 because everything is a culture war now,\u201d Kendler says today.<\/p>\n RELATED: Mystery surrounds soil testing at Moore Park Golf Course as redevelopment debate continues<\/a><\/p>\n Such futility is set to be laid bare in the coming weeks and months. Even as fences go up across the golf course, there is likely to be no early activity in the much-vaunted redevelopment. As Kendler says, there is no contract in place with a construction company, no course architect officially engaged to redesign the course, there are no heritage approvals, there is no directive about which trees can be touched, while soil tests, engineering studies and the like are also yet to be conducted.<\/p>\n In every way, the NSW Government\u2019s concept looks like an idea without a plan.<\/p>\n Problems from within<\/p>\n Part of Moore Park\u2019s plight was the lack of a co-ordinated and cohesive voice from within golf to quash the downsizing before it became policy.<\/p>\n\n